Today was a very busy day. It began with a PTSD counseling session at the American Lake VA Hospital (at Lakewood, WA) for my first of 12 Cognitive Processing Therapy sessions. It’s a different approach to helping a Vet cope with the effects of PTSD and I will have to write about my thoughts each week based on a particular lesson.

When I started counseling quite some time ago I made the mental commitment to engage honestly regardless of where it led. Overall, there have been improvements and as time walks on there will be more improvements.

These sessions are always hard on me…before it begins, during, and after as my mind goes over what was accomplished, discussed, where I opened up, where I played it safe, where I didn’t want to go. But, that’s the point of counseling…to help, make, cajole, pry out the things that are affecting you and in the long run, to provide coping mechanisms that keep the ghosts at bay, to help you engage with your family, to try and understand how your actions since those events from so long ago have, and in many cases, are still impacting your relationship with your family, friends, and yourself.

When I walked out of the building after this morning’s session, the sun was painting a tree in beautiful colors, the fall leaves were glowing, the morning air was crisp and it felt good to be alive.

Morning’s First View (Nikon Df, 55mm macro-Nikkor, ISO 200, 1/200 @ 5.6 [exif states 24mm, not so – I just changed the selection to ensure 55mm is now shown]),

I'm a professional scavenger making a living selling curbside garbage. This blog details my finds and sales. It also acts as an archive for things beautiful and historic that would otherwise have been destroyed.